Statistical card and record



Aug. 18, 1936. R. E. PARis STATISTICAL CARD .AND RECORD Filed Aug. 14. 1950 (\llll N w bmbh STATISTICAL CARD AND RECORD Robert Edward Paris, New York, N. Y. Application August 14, 1930, Serial No. 415,370

4 Claims.

This invention relatw to statistical cards and records and the process of making the same.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to produce a card or record sheet for use in 5 connection with tabulating or other statistical machines which record shall have a high dielectric value without being so thick as to be undesirable as to its storage and handling.

Another object is to produce a record blank of this nature which shall have a highly desirable finish for writing or printing.

Another object is to produce a' record blank of I this nature which shall be durable and flexible and capable of withstanding the exigencies of high speed feeding and of repeated operations.

A highly important obiect is to produce a record blank possessing all of these. advantages at a very low cost.

With these and other obiects-in'view the inven-- tion consists in the treating of certain material in a manner now to be set forth.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a control card or record made according to my invention, and Fig. 2 is an enlargedfragmentary sectional view of the same.

In the form of card shown, I represents paper such as kraft which is impregnated with varnish 2 and coated with a print receiving material .3. Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of the punctures onthe card for alphabetic and numeric indication and disclosesthe necessity of print receiving coating to receive the interpretation of the code punctures.

In the art of statistical accounting machines, both the Powers and Hollerith systems use a punched record card which is made of ordinary card stock and then punched with the required data. The Powers system is purely mechanical and may be disregarded; but the Hollerith is an 0 electrical system and the record is used merely to separate contacts and therefore requires an insulating material of very low dielectric value. Where a hole has been punched, a brush drops thru and makes metallic contact thereby closing 45 a circuit to effect results according to the punch location. Since the current used in these machines has a very low voltage, the card is not called upon to resist any great electrical pressure, and acts merely in a mechanical sense.

There has, however, been developed another statistical system in which the data is indicated by minute punctures, needle-pricks or slicing in the record. In the case of punctures, the data is indicated without removing any appreciable 55 amount of stock, and in the case of pricking or slicing, no stock is removed at all. A brush or brushes contact with the card and discharge a high-tension current thru the record where punctured, pricked or sliced. With this form of device ,the ordinary card stock of the Powers and 5 Hollerith type has not suflicient dielectric value to be used; and at the high speed attainable with this new form, such card stock will not stand up to repeated use and .to the quick blow of the rapid feed. 10 The problem, then, which is presented in this new system, is to produce a record sheet capable of withstanding high-tension pressure, tough and durable so as to stand up under the new rapid- 0 feed stresses to which it is subjected, having a surface to readily receive writing or printing or typewriting, thin enough to be readily filed and handled, and cheap enough to be not prohibitive to prospective users.

To this end I prefer to take a roll of stout cheap material such as standard kraft paper, (although other comparatively cheap material could be used), and coat or coat and impregnate the material soas torender it strongly resistant to electric pressure, either by running the material thru a bath of varnish or other suitable insulating material or applying the insulating material by spraying or any other suitable method. This may or may not be baked, altho the latter is preferred.

After the paper or other material thus treated is dried and cured by standing for some time, it is then brought to standard thickness by passing between rollers or by any other well-known practice. when the material is in this stage it will not readily receive writing or printing and must be treated. Therefore it is then given a writing surface. When I say writing surface, I mean a surface which will readily take impressions from a pencil, pen, typewriter, hand stamp, printing press or other kindred instrument. This writing surface may be obtained in any one of a number of ways, three of which are:

(1) By roughing the surface of the insulated card by the use of an abrasive orother suitable means, in which case pigment may be mixed with the varnish to produce differently colored cards;

(2) By brushing on a coating of material suitable to give a writing surfacezor (3) By passing the insulated material thru a bath of coating material.

This coating used in cases (2) and (3) may be what is termed a casein-coating, altho other material may be found to give good. results. This casein-coating would preferably contain casein as an adhesive ingredient and pipe-clay as the body material. Pigments may be mixed with the print-receiving coating so as to produce cards or records of diiierent color tor various p p ses.

The treated paper or other material is then passed thru a cutting machine and cut to the desired record size. I

It will be seen that in this manner, I produce as a new article or manufacture. a statistical record having a very high dielectric value owing to the varnish or insulating treatment, a really nn'e print-receiving surface due to the roughing or thesecond coating, which is flexible thru the coaction oi the several elements of the record blank, comparatively thin, and very inexpensive.

What I claim is:

1. As a new article of manufacture punctured or punched record cards formed from material coated with an insulating material and having an outer coating of printing surface forming material,

2. As a new article of manufacture, a blank for punctured or punched record cards formed from paper coated and impregnated with insulating material and formed with an outer layer 01' printing surface forming material comprising an adhes'ive and a illler.

3.- As a new article or manufacture, a blank for punctured or punched recording cards formed from paper coated and impregnated with insulating material and formed with an outer layer of print-receiving material.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a blank for punctured or punched recording cards formed from paper, coated and impregnated with varnish and coated with a mixture oi casein and pipeclay.

ROBERT EDWARD PARIS. 

